


Snapshots

by cosmogyrals



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 09:11:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmogyrals/pseuds/cosmogyrals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of ficlets about Martha and her relationship with her family. Originally written for the lifeonmartha Footsteps project.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snapshots

01

“Mum! I’m home!” Martha set her bag down on the table next to the door, looking around. Her house seemed different somehow, smaller, like a set of clothes she’d outgrown. The unnatural silence didn’t help, either. Usually, during the holidays, their home was filled with the scent of fresh cookies and the tree in the front room, and their extended family was underfoot everywhere.

But they were all gathering at other relatives’ this Christmas – her mum had flatly refused to play hostess this year, saying that she just wasn’t in the mood for it. This year, it was just going to be the four of them; her dad was still living with them, but not for long, and from what Tish had said, sides had been chosen while she was off at university, and he’d been thrown to the wolves. Or to Annalise, and, from what Martha had heard about the woman, she would’ve preferred the wolves.

Clive came down the stairs, a look of relief on his face when he saw that it was Martha – probably, Martha imagined, because she was the only one still speaking to him. “Martha!” He enveloped her in a warm hug, and for a moment, Martha was able to imagine that things were all right. “Your mum’s gone out – probably to meet with her solicitor. I’m not sure where Tish and Leo have gone, but it’s nice to have some peace and quiet for once.”

She pulled back for a moment, studying him. She thought he looked the same, except for a slight deepening in the creases on his forehead and around his eyes. “It’s been that bad, then?” Martha asked, her concern evident in her voice. She knew how her brother and sister must feel, but, as far as she was concerned, that didn’t give them any right to treat their father like that. Mum was a different story, of course – Martha couldn’t really blame her for chucking a few dishes at his head when she’d found out.

“A bit, yeah.” He shrugged. “I’m looking for a flat, but it’s been hard. I don’t want to just…move in with Annalise – though that’s what she wants me to do.”

Martha frowned. “I’ll have a talk with them, Dad. It’s Christmas. They shouldn’t ruin the holidays like this.” What she really wanted, of course, was for her family to just go back to normal, but she knew that wouldn’t happen now; the best she could hope for was some sort of truce.

“Thanks, Martha. I knew I could count on you.”

 

02

Martha stood on her tiptoes to peer through the peephole, even though she already knew who was at the door. “Tish!” she exclaimed as she undid the bolts and pulled the door open. Her sister looked rather the worse for wear – her eyes were red and puffy, and her mascara had run down her cheeks. She’d come straight from work, Martha knew, and she was still wearing her suit, though there was a run in her hose. She picked up a pair of pyjama pants and a tank top from the table and handed them to Tish in a businesslike manner. “Here,” she said, “change into these, and I’ll get the takeaway ordered. You want the usual, right?”

Tish nodded mutely as she took the clothes from Martha, sniffling pathetically as she went into the bathroom to change. She came back out a few minutes later, her makeup scrubbed off and her hair let down, still looking crushed. Martha hung up the phone and sat down next to her on the sofa. “All right, spill,” she said, taking the box of tissues from her coffee table and handing them to Tish.

“Sam showed up at work to take me out to lunch – I thought it was just one of those things he did to be nice to me, you know? Like bringing me flowers or having dinner cooked when I got home. ‘Cept he really just wanted to deliver the bad news somewhere that wasn’t the office.” Tears began to well up in Tish’s eyes again.

“What was it?” Martha asked, wrapping a comforting arm around her older sister’s shoulders. 

“I told you that he’d been talking about transferring to Frankfurt, yeah? I told him I didn’t want him to do it, ‘cos the benefits weren’t that great, and I wanted to stay here with you and Mum and Leo and Dad. And I thought that was it. Then today, he just…up and told me that he was moving whether I liked it or not. And that he would _prefer_ if I didn’t come along.” She burst into tears, burying her face in a clump of tissue as Martha rubbed her back.

“Shhh, Tish, it’ll be all right,” she murmured. Though Sam had been the most serious boyfriend Tish had had in awhile – she’d even moved in with him, something that _never_ happened. Mum had even started mentioning weddings from time to time (though never while Tish was within earshot). “If he can’t understand why you’d rather stay here, you’re better off without him, anyway, yeah?”

“I…I guess so.” Tish looked up at her, tears still rolling down her face. “But I really loved him, Martha. You don’t know what that feels like, being madly in love with a man and just having him…leave you like that. Like you aren’t worth anything.”

Martha bit the inside of her cheek to keep from making a rather unhelpful comment – after all, Tish was right, even if she could have put it more tactfully. She’d never been in love, not _really_. Of course, if her sister was in love every other week – and getting her heart broken just as often – well, what was there to recommend it to her?

“He’s wrong, Tish, and you know it,” she said instead. “He’s the one who isn’t worth anything. Can’t even keep from hurting my sister, the bloody arse. Always knew he was trouble.”

Tish smiled tearfully at her as she unwrapped a piece of chocolate. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Martha.”

 

03

Glancing down at her mobile after she left the lecture hall, Martha saw that she’d missed a call from her mum. She sighed and flipped the phone open, quickly hitting the speed-dial button.

“Hey, Mum, saw you’d called.”

“Oh, Martha, I’m so glad you called back. God, have you heard what your father’s done now?”

Martha rolled her eyes. “No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me all about it.”

“Don’t be smart, Martha. It doesn’t suit you. He’s gone and bought Leo a brand new car, after he went and wrecked the last one. I _told_ him not to, but, of course, that just egged him on.”

She sighed, knowing that she was going to be in for a long conversation. Whenever a phone call started off on the topic of her dad, it promised to be at _least_ an hour of tirades about the most recent ways he’d wronged her mum – in minute detail. And at least half of those were imagined slights, and the other half were Annalise’s fault – the car, for example, sounded like pure Annalise; she would always agree to something that Francine strongly opposed.

“And Leo’s hanging round that Harker boy and his lot again,” Francine continued, unaware that Martha was mostly tuning her out. She was overprotective of Leo – but he was the youngest, after all, and the only one of the Jones children seemingly incapable of staying out of trouble. Still, he shouldn’t be spending time with the neighbourhood drug addicts and vandals; she made a mental note to call him and check in when she had the time.

Which didn’t look to be anytime soon, since her mother was still talking nonstop. “Your Aunt Cecy wants you to drop by and take a look at her youngest when you’ve got the time, she thinks she’s got shingles or something absurd like that.”

That caught Martha’s attention, and she groaned. “Oh, Mum, I thought I told you to tell her that I can’t _do_ that. I’m only a medical student – I’m not supposed to make diagnoses. And shingles? Really? It can’t be anything worse than chicken pox. Di’s too young for shingles.” She shook her head, massaging her left temple with her free hand. “Just phone her up and tell her to go to a proper doctor.” Besides, Aunt Cecy was obsessed with hooking her up with some bloke or another – Di was probably fine, and this was just another attempt at matchmaking. “ _And_ tell her that I’m not looking for a boyfriend, thanks,” she added belatedly.

“Oh, Martha, she means well,” Francine scolded her.

“The last bloke she tried to set me up with was twice my age. I don’t even _like_ older men!”

“You don’t like men your own age, either.” She sighed. “Sometimes I don’t think you know what you want.”

“I know that I don’t want my aunt finding men for me. I’ll start looking when I’m good and ready, Mum. Don’t worry, you’ll have grandbabies to play with eventually.” After all, she thought, one of the three of them _had_ to reproduce. “Look, I’ve got to go, okay? I have an exam on the physiology and anatomy of the heart tomorrow, and I need to start studying.” She did have an exam tomorrow, but she mainly wanted to head off another discussion on her love life – or lack thereof. Tish had enough complications _there_ for the both of them, and that would have to satisfy her mum for now.

“All right, fine.” Her mother sounded a little irritated. “If you talk to your father, tell him I’m not happy with him.”

“I think he knows that by now, Mum. Bye.”

“Good-bye, Martha.”

 

04

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. “Your mother’s a piece of work, isn’t she?”

“Oi, what’s that supposed to mean?” Martha gave him a stern look. He’d only met her mum once, and, sure, she hadn’t approved of him – but Francine Jones rarely approved of anybody her daughters brought home.

Not that she’d brought him home like _that_ , of course. He’d just invited himself along to the party Tish had organised at her new job – it was hardly a date or anything, even if her mother thought otherwise. Besides, Martha’s dates didn’t usually end in giant scorpion monsters chasing her through cathedrals.

“Nothing, nothing.” He scratched the back of his head, rocking back and forth on the heels of his trainers. “Just forget I mentioned it. Mothers never like me, anyway.”

“Can’t imagine why,” she remarked dryly, watching him fiddle with a crank on the console. “Protective mothers _love_ mysterious dashing men in tuxedos who suddenly start spending large amounts of time with their daughters.”

“Oh!” The Doctor glanced up at her, a genuinely perplexed look on his face. “You mean - She thought we were - Oh. Well, then. I’d never quite thought of it like _that_ before.” He combed his fingers through his hair again, making it stand up on end as he tried very hard to keep from looking at Martha. “So, ah, about your family.”

“What about them?”

“Well, I don’t know. What am I meant to ask?” 

“You…” Martha stared at him for a long moment, then shook her head. “You’re very strange, you know that?” She wondered about _his_ family for a moment – what sort of family he’d had before his planet was destroyed. Did he even have parents or siblings? For all she knew, Time Lords hatched from eggs, or something equally absurd. And, well, if he didn’t understand family like Martha did, had he even had one at all?

“Comes with the territory, I suppose.” He shrugged idly, still studying the console.

“Well, since you asked…I mean, you’ve met them all, except for my dad, and you saw _him_ after Leo’s party. He and Mum divorced just after I started university – he’d been cheating on her with Annalise. Tish is older than me – she just graduated with a degree in business. Leo’s the youngest, he’s got a girlfriend, Shonara, and a daughter named Keisha.” Martha glanced at him. “That’s…sort of the basics.” She had no idea what else to tell him – that Leo had a knack for getting into trouble, or that she had a scar on her leg from the time Tish had dared her to jump off a wall while on holiday in Bath and she’d wound up with a compound fracture? That her mum made some of the best gingersnaps she’d ever had? 

But he seemed satisfied enough with Martha’s answer – at least, he didn’t ask her anything else. And that, more than anything, made Martha realise just how alien the Doctor really was.

 

05

Martha closed the door behind her, wiping the last of her tears from her eyes. She walked into the kitchen, where the rest of her family was gathered, doing her best to ignore the sounds of the TARDIS dematerialising. She was more than a little heartbroken, but, for her family’s sake, she refused to let it show.

As she sat down, she looked around the table at her family. Her mum leaned against her dad for support, the cup of tea she held in her hands shaking. Tish was looking down at the table, her shoulders slumped, crumpled tissue dotting the table in front of her. Leo was the only one who seemed the same, and that was because he hadn’t lived through the same things they had. They’d only just told him about the Year that Never Was. He hadn’t believed them, of course – he’d called them mad at first, and who could blame him? It sounded mad to Martha, and she’d been there. But all four of them couldn’t have imagined the exact same thing – and, well, they were clearly haunted enough by what had happened that it lent credence to their story. Leo had reluctantly believed them, if only because he needed some sort of explanation for what had gone wrong with the rest of his family.

“You stayed,” Francine said quietly, looking at Martha.

She gave her mum a tight smile. “’Course I did,” she replied. “You need me here, not gallivanting round time and space with the Doctor. ‘Sides, I have exams soon enough, and I can’t get much studying done if I’m busy saving the world.” Because, she’d learned, being a doctor was all about healing the people who needed it – and who needed to be healed more than her very own family? The Doctor, she figured, could manage well enough on his own; it was up to her to pick up the shattered pieces he’d left behind in his wake.


End file.
